Whether it’s the cost of running delivery vehicles or the high prices paid to heat buildings and run energy sapping machinery, the stone industry is at the mercy of increases in fuel prices.

As finite fossil fuels are sourced from increasingly remote parts of the world, prices are on an upward trend. It is a trend that the industry is going to have to live with.

In many cases, how the industry adapts to this and follows up its commitment to reduce emissions will dictate if the business survives or fails.

The stone industry has examined numerous technologies that will reduce carbon, slash energy bills, tick the CSR box and secure energy supply. The challenge is knowing how to differentiate good technology from bad.

Feed-in Tariffs make micro-generation an attractive option. With on-site generation attracting a feed-in tariff of more than 40p/kWh in some cases, the finances seem to stack up.

However, the question of how sustainable such seemingly excessive subsides are was brought sharply into focus when, following an emergency review announced in February, the tariffs for medium and large scale solar panel projects were cut last month (March) – the largest projects by more than 70%. The move followed an explosion of applications for large scale ‘solar farms’ that cover fields with photovoltaic (PV) cells.

Nevertheless, a solar array on your workshop roof or a wind turbine can quickly pay for itself and makes a powerful statement about your commitment to sustainability, which is good for your corporate social responsibility (CSR) and provides public relations opportunities to blow your environmental trumpet.

Likewise energy efficiency measures such as movement sensitive lighting and (especially for companies using a lot of water-guzzling machinery) water saving initiatives are visible and can differentiate a company that is acting on carbon reduction from competitors who are not.

But perhaps the single most effective measure businesses can implement to cut their energy use is one that is hidden away in a corner of the switch room – Voltage Power Optimisation (VPO).

VPO generates energy and carbon savings by optimising electrical power quality and by supplying voltage at a more efficient level to the whole business.

The technology was introduced to the UK in 2000 and powerPerfector, the company that installed that pioneering unit, say they have maintained their market leading position ever since.

“How we mitigate the risk of climate change will define our generation,” says powerPerfector CEO Angus Robertson. “There is a moral responsibility on us to make the changes now that will set us on the path to sustainability.

“We’ve worked across a number of heavy industrial sites and we’ve seen good savings and have discussed the technology with a number of different companies within the minerals industry. I think that in the recent past cost has always been prohibitive for companies struggling in difficult trading conditions.”

But times are changing. Thousands of sites in the UK have installed VPO. It works seamlessly with smart meters, on-site renewable generation and demand reduction measures. When fitted in a typical commercial building it cuts an average 13% off the electricity bill instantly.

And innovative financing has recently been introduced to allow companies to take on the technology so that the savings achieved should cover the cost of the monthly payments.

“Most of the time,” says Angus Robertson, “the client is actually cash positive and once the initial cost of the unit has been met, usually in less than five years, the client begins to see large savings from the technology.

“We have a simple four-step process for interested companies. All we need is some basic electrical data. We’ll then send you an estimate of the cost and value of powerPerfector to your site. Following a site survey we’ll provide a more detailed proposal. Assuming this meets your approval, we’ll then deliver and install the kit.”

With so many energy efficiency options available it can make the procurement process long and complicated. So what should companies keen to reduce their costs and carbon footprint look for to ensure any energy efficiency technology meets their needs?

“Make sure that the company’s technology has an unblemished reliability track record over a number of years, otherwise you are risking business continuity,” says Angus. “As a rule of thumb, the fewer points of failure the better. Beware of overcomplicated solutions with multiple different components.

“Equally important is that you can trust that the technology is doing what its maker says it will. An energy savings analysis should come in two parts: firstly a detailed savings plan, in which the site is analysed and a methodology for determining the savings is agreed upon; and secondly a savings report, which quantifies the avoided energy use.

“Above all, cost is something buyers need to be aware of. The recent government spending review risks putting ‘best value procurement’ at risk and raises the spectre of ‘lowest cost wins’ – do not be drawn into a cheaper deal.

“All our reputations rely upon our recommendations, so conduct a very full technical review of any technology offering in this sector before you risk your reputation.”

Allied with cost saving performance, powerPerfector also say they have a positive effect on the quality of power going into a business.

Power quality on the distribution network is degrading, in part due to the success of the Government’s push for sustainability, which has seen a proliferation of new renewable energy projects. As with many effective remedies, it comes with side effects.

While in the past the National Grid had the task of prioritising and balancing the UK’s electricity demand using the traditional sources of nuclear, coal, gas, hydroelectric and oil generation, now a raft of wind farms, tidal ranges and biomass plants make the job infinitely more complicated.

The intermittent nature of wind, combined heat & power (CHP) plants and tidal energy means that, when there is a drop in generation from renewables, other forms of generation are called on to fill the shortfall. This switching between sources to ensure a constant supply of energy has a knock-on effect on the quality of the power supplied to our homes and businesses.

Power spikes and harmonic distortion can damage sensitive equipment and increase the regularity with which organisations are carrying out maintenance and replacing electrical equipment.

Transients can knock out power across a business and bring a hasty end to a day’s work. It is something that is likely to get worse as the proliferation of renewable energy increases.

Angus: “PowerPerfector can help improve business continuity. By cutting energy costs and providing protection against some of the increasingly common power quality problems, UK businesses are future-proofing themselves.”

In times of austerity, cost saving tends to take priority over sustainability, but voltage power optimisation is, perhaps, an opportunity to achieve both.

Case study 1

Steeling a march on the competition

Graham Wood Structural based in Lancing, West Sussex, are a leading structural engineering company. They design and build offices and industrial units, fabricating an extensive range of steelwork for all types of structures.

The Lancing site is an industrial manufacturing site with office buildings.

A powerPerfector unit was installed in 2007. It has lead to the company achieving significant electricity savings.

Not only have they reduced their annual bills by 12.5% (nearly £11,000 a year), they have also reduced their carbon footprint by around 58,000kg of CO₂ a year.

Case study 2

Tapping into savings

DS Smith Plastics, part of Worldwide Dispensers, are successful and long-established manufacturers of high quality plastic taps and related dispensing filaments.

A powerPerfector unit installed at their factory in 2006 now saves the company £100,000 every year.

That equates to a 22% reduction in average consumption and a reduction in carbon emissions of 103,000kg of CO₂ a year.

Enzo De Luca, Operations Director at Worldwide Dispensers, says: “In the current economical and environmental climate, energy consumption is on everyone’s agenda. The continuous rising of electricity cost made it imperative for us to seek ways of reducing consumption. We are now averaging savings of 29,000kWh per week and believe that the operational performance of our equipment is improving, too.”